GIVEAWAY: Say Anything Family!

Image courtesy of North Star Games

Hey, all! We here at Growing Up Gamers are very excited; we're having our first giveaway! The wonderful people at North Star Games are providing a copy of Say Anything Family, the latest game by designer Dominic Crapuchettes (designer of Wits & Wagers and Wits & Wagers Family)! The game is a family-oriented version of their popular Say Anything adult party game, and features questions like "Which celebrity would make the worst babysitter?" and "What magical power would be the coolest to have?". That sounds like a ton of laughs to me! I, for one, cannot wait to try this out. This sounds like a great game game to pull out after dinner to entertain the whole family.

So here's how it works: you must email us at growingupgamers@gmail.com with a subject of Say Anything Family, and you are entered once in the drawing. Additionally, doing each of these things will get you one more entry each:

Image courtesy of North Star Games

-Follow us on Twitter, Like us on Facebook or follow us via Google Connect: (+1 entry for each)
-Follow North Star Games on Twitter, Like them on Facebook or follow their Blog (+1 entry each)
-Post this giveaway on Facebook (+1 entry)
-Tweet this giveaway to your Twitter followers (+1 entry)
-Leave a meaningful comment on one of our blog posts (+1 entry, only count once)
-Add up your entries in your email (+1 entry)

So... altogether, that's a total of eleven possible entries; make sure that's all in the email! Don't worry, though... email addresses will only be used to announce the winner of this contest; we will not share it, sell it or spam you.  We will accept entries until 12pm PST Wednesday, April 20th; the winner will be chosen at random and the results will be posted on or by Friday, April 22nd. This contest is open to residents of the US and Canada only. So... good luck, everyone! We here at Growing up Gamers are excited to be able to offer you this opportunity! Here's a big shout-out to the great people at North Star Games: Thank You!

Update: The entries are all in, and we have a winner! Congratulations to Lance Coffee, winner of our first giveaway! Thanks to everyone who entered!

Image courtesy of boardgamegeek.com's Endersgame

Of all the luck!

Over the last couple weeks, I have had a few interactions with the customer service people for several game companies. Invariably, I have been treated very well and received prompt replies. I think that it reflects well on the industry that companies are eager to keep us, the gamers, happy. So let me share a little with you.

Over the 8-1/2 years my wife and I have been together, we have bought an enormous load of games. That's what we do. Some people go clubbing, some people take frequent little vacations... we game. And we love it. But back to the point, we have bought a lot of games. And until a few weeks ago, we haven't had any issues with components.

It seems quite uncanny that over the last month, all the games we purchased had some issue. That's four games from four separate companies. Yeesh! Crazy luck that we've had. I guess if you buy enough games, you're eventually going to get one with a minor defect. It just happens. And you contact customer support, because they just make it all better. Anyway, here are the companies that we have contacted, and our responses:

1. North Star Games
Our copy of Wits & Wagers Family had a single wet-erase marker that didn't write. We were able to play the game fine, it's just that we didn't have had a marker for the fifth player. This did indeed come up in our first game. I contacted the company, and a nice fellow by the name of Andrew contacted me very quickly. He explained that there was a defective batch of markers. I received a set of replacements, plus a couple extra cards for the standard version of Wits & Wagers. Top notch service, guys!



2. Z-Man Games
Our Christmas present to ourselves, Neuroshima Hex!, suffered from having a board that had an extra slice through the middle. After the first play, we had a sliver of the board between the standard middle fold of the board and this cut (probably 2-3mm wide)peel off, leaving a noticeable eyesore. My wife contacted Z-Man Games, and Zev (the Z-Man of Z-Man!) contacted her personally to address the issue. Within a few days, we had received a new board. Thank you, Z-Man!



3. Gamewright
Gamewright publishes, among other things, Forbidden Island. If you haven't tried it, please do! Expect a review from us soon. Anyway, upon opening the tin, we found one of the island space tiles, the Whispering Garden, had a tear across it. Since their tiles are prepunched, it likely happened when it was separated from the boardstock, since sometimes the paper top hangs to the sprue. Upon being contacted, Gamewright immediately sent a replacement. I would like to thank Emily, the woman who handled my issue. Thanks!



4. Gary Games
Yesterday, we picked up Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer from Gary Games. As with Forbidden Island, definitely expect a review of this game. We found upon opening that we were missing one of the Apprentice cards. These are particularly important because they make up your starting deck. It hasn't yet come up, but that makes it unplayable for four players. It's a bit preemptive for me to discuss their customer service, but I have sent a message to them and am awaiting a reply. I fully believe that they'll do the industry proud and ship out a replacement card soon. Update: Replacement card received, plus a promo! Thank you!



So... that is that. I wanted to thank the customer service people at these companies. Way to go.  So... of all the luck, eh? It is truly bizarre that after buying so many games without issue, that four in a row have either missing or defective parts! Crazy!

Review: Wits & Wagers Family

So, it's about that time of year to blog about the games we got for Christmas! Today, I'm talking about Wits & Wagers Family, a simplified, family-friendly version of Wits & Wagers. My wife and I like the standard edition of Wits & Wagers quite a bit. It is a simple and fun trivia game that you don't really need to know trivia to play. The way this works is that each player (or team of players) has a card, a wet-erase marker and a pile of poker chips. A question is read aloud, to which the answer is a number. Each player or team writes down their guess on their card, and then all the cards are arranged from high to low on a felt play mat. Position in relation to the median bet determines the odds and the payout for a correct answer. And then everyone bets on what they believe to be the correct answer with their poker chips. Then the answer is read, the correct guesser is given a small payout, and then correct betters are paid out according to the odds. There are seven rounds, and all but the last round have betting limits. Pretty simple, right?

The standard version of Wits & Wagers is fairly simple for adults, and, as per the box, can accomodate up to 21 people (assuming seven teams of three, since there are only materials for seven). As with any betting game, it favors those who play the odds and are somewhat savvy to those kinds of systems. It is a great game for adults. We can get non-gamer friends to play this and enjoy it every time. But it isn't the best for kids.

Wits & Wagers assumes an understanding of risks versus payouts that most people of age teen and above are likely to have acquired, but not younger kids. Also, when you bet chips and guess wrong, you lose them. In a trivia-based game, kids are already at a bit of a disadvantage for not having the breadth of knowledge an adult does... so losing your cool stuff on top of that can seem mean to the younger ones. Those reasons, as well as the nature of the trivia questions themselves, make the standard version somewhat inaccessible to kids. Enter the family version.

Wits & Wagers Family streamlines this. The questions are things children are more likely to have encountered, but still challenging to them and adults. Betting is simplified to using meeples. Each player has a large meeple and a small meeple, and there is no odds track with different payouts. The game plays as above, but you score one point for a correct answer, one point for betting on the correct answer with your small meeple and two for  your big meeple. So you will score 0-4 points in a turn. The score is tallied on a score track, and the game ends when a person gets to fifteen points. Much simpler.

I personally favor the family version of Wits & Wagers over the standard version. It is far more accessible to children, and we have successfully played it three times already with our five year old daughter, Katie. She has had a blast, and was able to be competitive. The questions are still challenging, and there will still be a range of answers each question. I highly recommend this game. Even for adults. Quick to learn, quick to play. Even for non-gamers.

And, as an aside, I need to mention Northstar Games' customer service. After we started playing the game, we noted that one of the wet-erase markers would not work. I contacted the customer service department through the email listed on their site and received very prompt service. As a matter of fact, in addition to receiving a whole set of the markers, they threw in a couple extra cards for the standard edition, possibly a convention-only thing. I was very impressed. I like it when a game company takes their customer service this seriously.

Katie says: Wits and Wagers Family? It's awesome! I like that you get to have you card and write different numbers based on the questions. Our whole family can play! I like ot keep score for myself by making X's.

Angie says: I think Wits and Wagers Family takes all the best parts of the original Wits and Wagers game, simplifies it so that kids and non-gamers can enjoy it without losing the charm, and adds an interesting mix of questions that are a little more accessible to a range of players. A question about how many Disney Princesses there are had us all scratching our heads and counting them up, while Katie smiled as we discussed a favorite topic of hers. Although some of the questions were pretty easy, it's fun to know stuff and be right so I don't mind. Plus there's always the uncertainty and consideration when other people answer differently... did I remember that right? Who should I bet on? We were able this game to play this game at a busy family gathering and had various family members of all ages joining right in and playing along, without any hesitation or confusion about the rules. Answer the question, place your meeples, mark your points. Easy, streamlined, and fun. Love it! There aren't as many questions as the original, but I can't see why I would ever go back. I think we could use the original game questions with the user-friendly scoring from Wits and Wagers Family and extend the length, but honestly I'll probably be keeping my eye out for an expansion!